Monday, April 30, 2012

Party Houses of the Weekend

26 Allen Street, Amherst (Gateway to UMass/Amherst)

So yes, you would have to go some in order to win the ignominious Party House prize over the past weekend when Amherst was about as busy as it could possibly get with many of those folks in a party mood. Although Extravaganja attracted the usual thousands to town center it was also--as usual--a well behaved event. Well, except for a numerous tickets handed out for pot consumption.

Our Party House winners, on the other hand, stood out from the crowd precisely because everybody around them was NOT making obnoxiously loud noise very late at night or throwing bottles. And as a result offenders received $300 noise tickets (as opposed to pot possession tickets that only carry a $100 fine) and were arrested and thrown in jail, as opposed to the pot rally where nobody was arrested.

According to APD logs (2:00 AM early Saturday)

Report of loud party, loud music, and people throwing bottles at the house across the streetLoud voices on porch from gathering of individuals. No cooperation received from tenants or guests. Brad Sloan attempted to close door on officer and then refused to leave when asked to do so. Sloan begins to resist arrest when I attempted to place him under arrest.

Loud party with music and voices upon arrival . Ms Simpson was asked to clear the party and she did not. She was advised of consequences and still would not clear the party. She was placed under arrest for noise violation.

Apparently officers gave her three chances to comply and at one point she shut off the music and lights saying to her friends police had "no right to be here and no right to shut down the party." And when she did turn the lights on after failing to clear the guests, that she described as too drunk to leave, officers noted one of them standing in the window striking a pose with his middle finger prominently up in the air.

And just so the apartment complexes get almost equal representation, we have Puffton Village. Unit #398 to be exact. Also very early Sunday morning, or very late depending on your viewpoint. 6:48 AM to be exact.

According to police logs:

A loud stereo was blaring coupled with yelling and laughter. Guests of the residence were also on the roof rolling full cans of beer down the tin roofs while jumping up and down causing a thumping noise. The resident was placed under arrest.

This is my neighbor I can tell you I heard nothing and was passed out in cold SOBER sleep. Larry I do agree with ED on most issues you keep pocking at Umass Amherst students and eventually some one is going to sick of it and do something. How about I show up to your house and take pictures of you how would you like that? I will call it ONLY IN LARRY'S WORLD or ONLY IN THE REPUBLIC OF UMASS AMHERST STUDENTS. It is a matter of time before a Umass Amherst student gets a order of protection against you for harassment and slander, also us UMASS AMHERST STUDENTS HAVE GROUNDS TO SUE for slander and defamation of character that is all your blog does. If you showed up somewhere and took pictures you COULD be arrested on stalking, trespassing, invasion of privacy, disorderly conduct, and/or Disturbing the peace. We have a strong case againest you as a Umass Amherst grad should know that. People are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law that is something you forget to realize. ALSO PEOPLE WHO MOVED TO AREA AND CHOOSE TO LIVE NEXT TO A UNIVERSITY WHICH IS ONLY GOING TO GET BIGGER THAT IS THERE OWN FAULTS FOR NOT DOING THERE RESEARCH AND MANY TOWN FOLKS WILL AGREE WITH US. SO PLEASE STOP BOTHERING US AND ACCEPT US AS COLLEGE STUDENTS. WE HAVE CIVIL RIGHTS WHICH YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND AND VIOLATE. IF THE TOWN OF AMHERST KEEPS TREATING US LIKE ANIMALS THEN THEY WILL HAVE THE ZOOMASS DAYS WILL BE BROUGHT BACK AND FULL ON RIOTS IF THEY DO NOT LEARN TO COEXIST WITH US. THAT IS THE TRUTH.

I WILL GIVE YOU CITIZEN ARREST FOR BEING A PAIN IN THE BUT. I CAN DO THE SAME THING. I FEEL AS THOUGH YOUR CAMERA MAKES TO MUCH NOISE. SINCE YOU BLOG AND CAMERA ARE A NOISE AND NUISANCE VIOLATION YOU SHOULD GIVE THE TOWN OD AMHERST $600. OH I FORGOT YOU ARE A REPEAT OFFENDER YOU SHOULD BE EVICTED FROM THE TOWN AMHERST AND A LOT WOULD GO AWAY PROBLEMS. SOME TOWN OFFICIALS/EMPLOYEES AND UMASS EMPLOYEES FEEL AS THOUGH YOU MAKE THE PROBLEM WORSE AND SHOULD STOP. YOU ARE ONLY MAKING ENEMIES WHICH IS NEVER A GOOD THING.

Larry, I hopefully will be out of the area when the town burns, but I will honestly enjoy watching it on TV. And what none of you realize -- although Bob Holub's firing ought to be a wakeup call -- the Boston-area private universities have enough political clout to choke off UMass if there is a shortage of incoming freshmen, which there will be...

Your suit for slander and defamation of character would never hold up. You students do a great job on your own of destroying your reputation. You don't have a right to rip the town apart, drink til you pass out, throw bottles across public roads, and make noise into the night. Grow up. You fucking ass hole.

How did you even get in the university of massachusetts. Your writing stinks,high shcool level mistakes all over it. No one has to fear you taking over anything, let alone the town. You aren't smart enough to even be in college.

May 1, 2012, 2:44 pm is right on the mark. UMass needs to raise is standards. The low lifes that this campus attracts is unreal. A degree from that school means absolutely nothing. Not much more than a diploma from a public high school. Pathetic.

it's impossible to know who's writing what on this blog, excepting Larry and Ed.

It looks to me like someone's posting to Undermine the students. As far as we know, it's Larry posting those comments to keep the thread going. And maybe 2:44 and 8:40 are Larry, too. And maybe I am, too.

All I can say is replace "student" with "Black" or "Puerto Rican" and see if you can say it in polite company. And if you can't, then perhaps you ought not to say this about the UM students, either.

You students do a great job on your own of destroying your reputation.

You Puerto Ricans do a great job on your own of destroying your reputation.

You don't have a right to rip the town apart, drink til you pass out, throw bottles across public roads, and make noise into the night.

African Americans don't have a right to rip the town apart (?), drink til (sic.) you pass out, throw bottles across public roads, and make noise into the night.

You fucking ass hole.

You fucking niggers.

Now I dare you -- any of you -- to say that last sentence about, say, Springfield's Mason Square neighborhood or any other African-American community that has far worse problems of crime and anti-social behavior than Amherst ever could have.

I dare you to suggest shutting down bus service in a minority neighborhood because of problems with a few people. I dare you to suggest it -- and I dare you to use terms which indicate that you are grouping an entire class of people as one.

When you folk are consistent in your bigotry, then we can discuss why prejudice is wrong. But right now you are only prejudiced against one cadre of people and that is stupid...

And the other thing you would find is that the entire minority community would unite against any rich spoilt white brats going in and acting like prejudicial bigots. As the UM Student community soon will -- and the town will burn....

As a University of Massachusetts student I would like to extend an invitation to our basic writing class. The irony, especially by the nitwit writing at 2:44pm, is hilarious. Apparently you're smart enough to be in college, yet you do not know the phrase "How did you even get in the university of massachusetts" should be be a question... and to keep your head from exploding I won't even delve into capitalization.

The irony is hilarious, but I am sure paying top dollar for a private school equivalent only to realize it's quite the same makes one bitter.

As for the noise violations working because of Hobart Hoedown, that did happen but at a different location... So I suppose it's just a Hoedown?

The irony is hilarious, but I am sure paying top dollar for a private school equivalent only to realize it's quite the same makes one bitter.

Buying a UMass education is like buying a refurbished computer, you save a few dollars but get something quite defective in ways you never anticipated.

I will never forget the night I had to fish about a dozen Harvard kids out of the drink. They were too drunk and on way too many drugs to realize that if they simply stood up and walked ashore, they wouldn't drown -- they were on a boat ramp and not bright enough to realize it.

I am not a fan of drunken hooliganism, it is just that the more expensive universities have a very different attitude toward their students.

All around -- from social to studying resources -- the UMass education is like the refurbished not-quite-so-good computer. It isn't that you only get what you pay for but that you wind up with an even lower dollar/value ratio.

As for the noise violations working because of Hobart Hoedown, that did happen but at a different location... So I suppose it's just a Hoedown?

This is a complete sentence?

Forget the fact that the concerns about the "Hoedown" weren't noise -- nor that back in the '90s, the "Hoedown" was actually quite peaceful other than the injuries from "crowd surfing" -- and I am not exactly sure what the above sentence is supposed to mean, particularly in the context of the one before.

UMass sucks -- it is not an institution dedicated to the education and nurturing of students but instead a self-centered entity that is only concerned with supporting and perpetuating itself and those who benefit from it -- not unlike the PennCentral just before its bankruptcy a half century ago.

UMass considers students to be nothing but an inexhaustible fungible resource to be exploited for the gain of faculty, staff & townies -- and they have no more anticipated the impact of this in the era of the internet than the railroads did the impact of the Interstate Highway System on their antics.

UMass is dying. The bilge pumps are not holding and the ship is slowly going down. Answer honestly those of you who were here in the '90s and before -- could you every have imagined there actually being as many police officers here or them being used as much as they are now?

One other thing -- how did we go from laws addressing "badges of slavery" and African American Freedmen to the nondiscrimination laws of today?

Simple -- people pointed out, correctly, that other identifiable groups were being treated as badly as the Blacks were. And that it was equally wrong and offensive and such.

UMass students are (a) an identifiable group that (b) are subjected to discrimination and prejudice and hence -- exactly -- what is the difference?

Other than by attacking me, I would truly like to see someone explain why the PVTA shouldn't respond to problems in Springfield and Holyoke by discontinuing service there?

Likewise, why should the City of Holyoke and the Holyoke PD have bothered to establish community relations and such with the Farnum Street neighborhood (the left instead of right when you are going into the Holyoke mall)? Why not just establish roadblocks around that ghetto and consider everyone living in there to be equally criminal?

And they had a cop shot and killed a couple days before Christmas, an officer assassinated at point-blank range through the windshield of his car -- which I think is a little bit more severe than what Amherst is upset about. Just a little bit...

ONCE AGAIN THE PEOPLE OF AMHERST FORGET THAT THERE IS STILL TWO MAJOR PARTY WEEKENDS LEFT. WHICH COULD BE THE HOBART HOEDOWN, TOWNHOUSE QUAD FEST, THE PUFFTON PUFF OUT, THE BRANDY ALL NITER, THE PRESIDENTIAL HOES PARTY, OR THE SLAMHERST RAGER OR AT ANY OTHER OFF CAMPUS HOUSING. ITS LIKE PLAYING A GAME OF CHESS YOU WILL NOT KNOW. CHECKMATE LARRY (UMASS STUDENTS WINNING, LARRY 0) :(

Larry, as a UMass student I apologize on behalf of the 99% with respect to Ed and the "typo squad." I an advocate for stamping "rioter/party-goer/nuisance student" on any and all UMass diplomas for those naive enough to partake in such belittling activity.

On another note Ed, please feel free to emancipate yourself from the university, I have a feeling you haven't contributed to our alumni fund and your slander is sickening.

I doubt APD, State Police, or AFD are going to drop their guard over the next two weeks.

They are human -- yes, Larry, they are human beings and not able to work 24/7 without letup or even sleep.

I would worry about exhausted cops being forced to respond to a second - unanticipated - problem and trying not to make stupid mistakes as well.

Let's say that Israel decides to bomb Iran. Do you honestly think that there won't instantly be major protests and demonstrations in Amherst? That would be one thing if you had the normal police reserves and such, but if you have already expended that resource, then...

Never forget that the Guardsmen at Kent State were EXHAUSTED -- they had already been out patrolling a trucker's strike before being called to campus.

Shifting all the resources like is being done leaves even greater gaping holes elsewhere and that could possibly become a problem.

Agree with those who suggested tightenting of admission standards. The vast majority of UM students cause no problems and raising the bar a little bit might go a long way toward screening out the riff-raff.

Agree with those who suggested tightenting of admission standards. The vast majority of UM students cause no problems and raising the bar a little bit might go a long way toward screening out the riff-raff.

Actually, it will do the opposite and "Coach Cal's Criminals" are the classic example of how raising the talent bar has the inverse reality of lowering the social one.

In other words, the only kids at the higher ability level who are available are ones with other blemishes in things like behavior. The ones with the ability to be taken somewhere else, but who weren't because of the latter.

Also, the brighter kids are, the more likely they are to challenge injustice (as they see it), the more self-assured they are -- from getting good grades and praise for that, etc -- the more confident they are in challenging authority figures (e.g. cops).

Remember that most of the most vocal anti-Vietnam protests were at the Ivy League colleges, not the state schools.

I hate reading these posts that suggest that UMass Amherst is anything less than a great school. I like that you mention that it's the 1% of the student body that causes 99% of the problems. Though the number is probably a little higher.

Not all students party, or even drink for that matter. A key fact that is never mentioned is that UMass has an extremely high drop out rate among freshmen of between 15-20% with a total graduation rate under 75%. It's very difficult to flunk out of college taking freshmen year Gen Ed's unless you never show up to class, because you're skipping class to party regularly. Sadly, this is often the case.

The problems arent being solved by the administration begging the student body not to riot during the super bowl. The problem is that there is not sufficient consequences to the damaging actions of students.

Noise violations should start at $500, and fines should increase to $1000 on second and third offenses.

All criminal misdemeanor activity should result in student suspension. Any felony met with immediate expulsion.

Alcohol related insidents off campus should result with a required lengthy and time consuming alcohol information course for students under the age of 21, and academic probation.

Larry, if you want to see video of the 2012 seniors goodbye video filled with the puffers pond disaster it's been posted on YouTube and on umass memes page.

I'm going to use a bit of knowledge I picked up at UMass to counter your ill argument.

The 1 percent mark is pretty accurate, but let's say you're correct. Heck, I'll even match your statement by a factor of five... let's say that it's percent of the student population who are disruptive. That would be 1000 students who are that disruptive. Do you think that 1000 UMass Amherst students are out at any given time behaving worthy of arrest? Didn't think so... (and if you do UHS has some great doctors for a good head exam). Heck, even 2% of the population would mean 400 students would be partaking in arrest worthy activities.

As for the freshmen rank, what a skewed statistic. Partially because of the private elitism that is pervasive of higher education, the town's hostility, and lately due to financial concerns many students attend UMass and attempt to go to their dream school. Why? Stereotypes reinforced by ill-informed anonymous posters who make (ill-informed) statements. Perhaps it isn't partying that causes students to drop out, but difficulty? Or transferring to other schools? On another note this freshmen (now a bit more than half a decade gone) enrolled in higher level courses his first year.

As for the puffers pond disaster, that video wasn't celebrating it as much as recollecting the times in college.

With arguments like yours I can see why you'd be a former, rather than current, employee.

The Town Meeting form of governemnt effectively disenfranchises students. Its time for students to contact the federal governemnt. Once student votes can count, the ridiculouse fines will stop. Everyone should thank Larry for pushing this. i

I am Anna-Claire Simpson, the (now) 33 year old who hosted the "party" at 50 High Street. I actually did not know about Extravaganja or whatever it is called, so I was not aware that policemen were being troubled with that on the particular weekend they decided to arrest me. I am teaching and getting my PhD at UMass, and the night I was arrested, I had just directed and put on a play at the Renaissance Center. There were ten people at my house after the play, and most of them were Shakespeare scholars ranging in age from 25-35. I was playing Bach and jazz from my little laptop, and the reason that the police were called was that two of my friends were arguing about human nature and Noam Chomsky on my back porch. Their voices were too loud and one of the neighbors complained. While I realize that my get together turned out to be a nuisance for one of my neighbors, I do believe I was done a major injustice being arrested. The police report that you are working from here is only from the policemen's perspective. For the ten people in my house, there were THREE police cars outside my house. The police asked me to send everyone in my house home, and I explained that 2 of my guests were from Northampton and would not be able to jump in their cars and drive away as they'd had alcohol. I was very aware that my friends could immediately be arrested for drunk driving if they were to do so. I didn't intend to argue with the two policemen at my back door, but I was also confused by their insistence that I had to immediately turn my guests out because of a noise complaint about talking. I told the policemen (as eight of my guests walked out the door), that my two remaining guests would be staying the night so that they wouldn't have to risk driving drunk. THe police insisted that I had no right to have them stay, and I did not agree with them. So there were two people in my kitchen, everyone else gone when the police grabbed my arm and pushed me up against my own door and put me under arrest. When i asked why i was being arrested, they yelled at me not to resist arrest. They threw me in the back of their car, took me to the station and booked me. My 2 friends walked to the station, bailed me out, but the station decided to keep me for 3 hours while they waited in the lobby for me. When they did release me (at 4 am), they let me out in a back alley with only a dress on (it was about 30 degrees at most) and I had to walk home by myself in the middle of the cold night. When they arrested me, my cell phone and wallet were in the house (so I couldn't make a phone call or pay for a cab). They also didn't tell me that they had my friends waiting for me in the lobby of the station. Luckily, my friends happened to look out the window and saw me shivering and came out to help me. Your blog is, unfortunately very negative and unjust in the way it interprets police reports. By the way, the judge who heard my case thought it was ridiculous and threw it out. The police actually tried to throw a CRIMINAL CHARGE at me. The experience was, unfortunately, very stressful and disheartening for me. I work very hard all year long to educate myself and the students at my school. I spend all of my time grading papers, reading, writing, etc... My "party" was a wine and cheese get together after a successful play, and I was trying to show my appreciation to those who helped me stage it. The people you complain about also contribute to the very things that make your town special. I urge you to be more thoughtful about the way you choose to tell "my story" and the way you make assumptions based on someone else's report of events.